The Black Patch Tobacco Wars

(Wikipedia) The "Black Patch" or "dark fired" tobacco area included counties in southwestern Kentucky and adjoining districts in Tennessee. On September 24, 1904, American tobacco planters formed a protectionist Dark Tobacco District Planters' Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee (the Association or PPA) in order to oppose the corporate monopoly: the American Tobacco Company (ATC) (or "Trust") owned and operated by James B. Duke. What followed was the most violent civil uprising since the Civil War. Even the New York Times declared, “There now exists in the State of Kentucky a condition of affairs without parallel in the history of the world.” Continued

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